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This week a young eater sat down to a dinner of sweet corn from a friend’s community garden plot, red pepper and basil from his own plot, grilled eggplant with garlic from the farmers’ market, and roasted tomatoes from his grandmother’s garden; he declared “I love this time of year.” Don’t we all? Nature is extravagantly generous right now, and there’s no better way to celebrate that bounty than to share a feast of just-picked fruits and vegetables from our local farms and gardens. The tables at the Brighton Farmers’ Market are piled high with heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, new potatoes, summer squash, eggplant, lettuce, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, beans, radishes, fresh herbs, and cucumbers. The delicious late summer fruits are abundant, including giant blackberries, peaches, nectarines, early apples, cantaloupe, plums, crabapples, and blueberries. It really is a wonderful time of year.
Ida with Bagel
Featured Vendors
Our intern, Anne, has continued to interview vendors at the market. Here’s her report for this week:
Biscotti for Everybotti
The first vendor to greet me as I walk around the market is usually Caroline Ravines at Biscotti for Everybotti. “Hi Anne, how are you? Are you ready for a sample?” she always asks. Before working at the market, I could easily turn down biscotti, but the samples are so delicious every week that I am turning into a “Biscotti Addict.”
Biscotti addicts are what Caroline calls her regular customers, and from what I observed while sitting with her last Sunday, there sure are a lot of addicts ready for a fix. I asked what some of the better selling flavors are, and she listed coconut, ginger, coconut chocolate chip and cinnamon raisin, but was quick to add that every flavor has a following. I just had to ask about her favorite flavor, and she answered ginger. Although I walked into the interview believing my flavor of choice is the double chocolate (which she allows me to sample every week), she encouraged me during the interview to try the ginger, and I had to go get money in order to buy a bag.
Bags of the biscotti are $6 for one, $11 for two, or $15 for three, but if you just want a piece of biscotti to eat at the market, large and small singles are available or $2 and $1, respectively. The flavors are non-traditional, range from mild to strong, and include gluten-free and vegan options, which are clearly marked.
When I asked Caroline how she got started as a business, she told me that it started with a school project in her Life Course Studies class as U of R. As part of the project, her partner taught her how to make biscotti. Caroline started experimenting and got good feedback from everybody who tried it. She then took her biscotti to cafes and continued to get good feedback. After having her kitchen inspected and filling out the necessary paperwork, Caroline started selling her biscotti. Her first customer was Coffee Connection. From there, she started selling her biscotti at farmers markets and coffee shops, including our market.
Caroline tries to use local products as ingredients in her biscotti, and thinks it is important to promote the businesses where she gets her ingredients. Whenever a customer buys Honey Vanilla biscotti, for example, Caroline gestures across the aisle where Nissen’s Honey is located and informs the customer that the honey in the biscotti came from there.
When you come to the market, make sure you stop by the Biscotti for Everybotti tent, located near the middle of the market, and try a sample (or five). It’s a great way to start a Sunday. Let Caroline know what your favorite flavor is, but be careful, because I’ve learned that biscotti can be highly addictive.
Dieter Farm
This is my third week interviewing vendors at the market, and there’s an element that keeps coming up when I ask about how the vendors started their businesses: FAMILY. The vendors have started their businesses with a goal to feed their own families or to become closer to their families.
Although the topic has come up briefly in the many of the interviews, family was the main focus of my interview with Phil Dieter of Dieter Farm in Lima, NY. The first indication I got that family was important to Phil was that his daughter Sarah, who Phil says is a big help around the farm, was at the market helping customers as I did the interview. When asked how he got his business started, Phil told me that he has always had a big garden. His love for gardening started in his grandmother’s garden when he was a kid. The business part started when he was selling handmade goods at a flea market and decided to put out some of the produce from his garden, and as a huge surprise to him, all of it sold.
Phil, as a construction worker who desired a new trade, would drive past people out in their gardens on the way to work and think “I want to be that guy.” He and his wife bought some land, not with the intent of using it for a business, but in order to pay the taxes on the land, they decided to sell produce. The acquired land, coupled with Phil’s desire to use it in order to feed his family and sell what he produced, brought Dieter Farm into existence. The garden is about 2 acres, including the corn.
Phil commented that having a farm is economical and good for you. He and his family keep their carbon footprint low because they don’t end up with a lot of garbage from packaged foods and they don’t have to use a lot of gas to get food. They raise their own animals and like that what they are doing is good for the Earth. “There aren’t many things that are good for the Earth these days. Most things hurt it,” said Phil.
The best part for Phil is that while he’s growing and picking the items for his small roadside stand and farmers’ markets-including popular items such as lettuce, sweet corn, and tomatoes-he gets to be with his family. Instead of going away to work all day, he is in the field next to them. He said that he likes how connected he feels to his children and that they talk about what is on their minds and bond while working together. Sarah, her brother Tyler and younger siblings, all help as much as they can. Dieter Farm truly is a family business.
Last week Dieter Farms had a great display of tomatoes and sweet corn, two summer favorites, so stop by and check out the produce the next time you’re at the market.
